


If You Build It...

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [66]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Nanny, Arts & Crafts, Dragons, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25728448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for Book Titles prompt:Any, any, Summer of the Dragon (Elizabeth Peters)In which John foolishly agreed to an oversized arts and crafts project.
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [66]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610332
Comments: 12
Kudos: 64
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	If You Build It...

John accepted full responsibility. It was his fault, for introducing Rodney’s kids to the movies _Flight of Dragons_ and _Pete’s Dragon_. They’d been favorite movies when he and his brother were just kids, and he thought it would be fun to introduce them to Eleanor and Jaxon.

The fun ended when John found himself in the garage trying to wrangle chicken wire into a vaguely dragon-shaped form.

“That was a stupid promise to make,” Rodney said, watching from the door that connected to the house. 

“No kidding,” John replied. “Feel free to lend a hand. You’re the engineer, right?”

Rodney grinned. “You’re Mary Poppins. Spoonful of sugar and all that.”

He left John alone in the garage with rolls of chicken wire and random bits of lumber.

It took John and the kids all summer to work on the dragon project. Once it was properly shaped, to the exacting standards of two small children, weeks of papier-mâché followed. They had to work around swim lessons and judo lessons and sleepovers and birthday parties and a trip to Disneyland.

Eleanor and Jaxon loved slathering the frame with paste-covered pieces of newspaper, adding layer after layer to help make the thing sturdy. Each layer had to dry before the next one could be applied.

Once the dragon was fully formed, John primed it for painting. And then it was time to take the kids to the paint store to pick out dragon colors.

“Purple,” Eleanor said definitively. 

“Green,” Jaxon said just as forcefully.

John was learning that his best bet was to compromise. “Both.”

The color choices, even narrowing it down to just two, were overwhelming. After a couple of emotional meltdowns, Jaxon settled on Derbyshire green and Eleanor chose Impulsive purple.

Rodney refused to assist at any stage of the process, though he had fun filming it and offering tips and suggestions for ways to make things run more smoothly.

“Stop painting your brother!” he said, lips twitching up in a grin as he held his phone up, capturing the moment.

Somehow, they got the dragon painted, though both Eleanor and Jaxon had to have lengthy baths afterward that turned the water different colors.

“He’s beautiful,” Eleanor said, eyes wide. “Thank you, Mr. John!”

John didn’t think ‘beautiful’ was quite the right word. Lumpy and malformed, yes, in a shape that vaguely suggested a dragon if you squinted at it just right. But the kids loved it, playing with it for the rest of the summer, making up stories and adventures for the dragon they named Milo.

“You’re really good with them,” Rodney said. 

He and John watched as Eleanor, dressed as a knight, and Jaxon, dressed as a king, prepared for some sort of battle. Milo was wearing a crown on his lumpy head.

“They’re good kids,” John replied.

And they were. He’d never planned on becoming a nanny, had quite literally been dragged into it, but he was enjoying it more than he thought he would. Not the least because John found their father so interesting. Genius level smart, handsome as hell, and the kind of dad John wished he’d had growing up.

The summer of the dragon was the best summer John had had in a very long time.


End file.
